Pope Begins 10-day Visit To Non-christian India

VATICAN CITY — Pope John Paul II begins a 10-day visit to India next week to preach the need for peace and harmony among religions in a country where religious differences often ignite violence.

The visit, slated to start today, is the pope`s 29th foreign tour and his first lengthy stay in a country that is almost entirely non-Christian. Only 12.5 million of India`s 732 million people, or 1.7 percent, are Roman Catholics.

But even though Hindus, Moslems, Sikhs, Buddhists, Jains, Parsees and primitive, spirit-worshipping tribes make up 97 percent of the population, Christianity has a surprisingly long history in India. St. Thomas, the doubting apostle, began preaching in India in 52 A.D.

Unlike Pope Paul VI`s four-day visit to Bombay in 1964 to attend a world eucharistic conference, John Paul`s trip will be a grueling 12,500-mile hopscotch across the Indian subcontinent.

As has become his custom since his election in 1978, John Paul will cram as many as eight events a day into his schedule, visiting 14 cities in 10 days. They include New Delhi, Ranchi, Calcutta, Shillong, Madras, Goa, Mangalore, Trichur, Cochin, Kottayam, Trivandrum, Vasai, Bombay and Poon.

Highlights of the trip include an appeal for peace and brotherhood at Mahatma Gandhi`s tomb, a meeting with the Dalai Lama in New Delhi, and a tour of Nobel Peace Prize winner Mother Teresa`s first home for the destitute and dying in Calcutta.

The pope plans to celebrate outdoor masses for the primitive tribespeople of northeast India whose speedy conversion from animism to Catholicism worries Hindu leaders. He also will hold several meetings with leaders of India`s many religious groups.

John Paul, with the help of an Indian Jesuit, has been studying Hindu philosophy and reading translations of sacred Hindu texts to prepare for the trip, a Vatican source said.

The pontiff also met with a group of Indian priests to improve his pronunciation of greetings in several of India`s 16 main languages, the source said. Although John Paul will deliver speeches in English, he plans to continue his practice of greeting various groups in their native tongues.

Besides religious tolerance, the Polish-born pope is expected to address a variety of familiar themes during the trip, his third to Asia.

Well-connected Vatican sources said John Paul was certain to echo the call for non-violence preached by Gandhi during India`s struggle for independence from Britain. The pope recently quoted Gandhi as saying, ``Hatred can be conquered only by love.``

Religious violence has long been a part of Indian life, with more than half a million people killed during Hindu-Moslem massacres following independence in 1947. Gandhi himself was assassinated by a Hindu fanatic in 1948, and former Prime Minister Indira Gandhi was assassinated by Sikh extremists in 1984.

Although fundamentalist Hindus have threatened to protest the pope`s visit, Vatican sources said they were not expecting violence.

``Some groups are threatening demonstrations, but nothing more than that,`` said the Rev. Roberto Tucci, chief advance man for papal trips. ``I found no particular concern about the pope`s safety among Indian security officials.``

Indeed, many who turn out for the pope will be non-Christians, Vatican sources said.

``Despite its many religions and many religious leaders, the people do have a real respect for religious leaders of any religion,`` said the Rev. Noel D`Souza, the Indian Jesuit responsible for Jesuit activity in south Asia.

``Not only Catholics will show up to see the pope,`` he said. ``Many others will come for the `darshan,` the viewing of any holy man. By having this look, they say, `I will have his blessing.` ``

The pope also is expected to restate the Catholic church`s opposition to artificial birth control, a highly unpopular position in a country that has doubled its population since it won independence in 1947.

The government`s strenuous birth control efforts, including wholesale village education campaigns and gifts of transistor radios for vasectomy patients, has resulted in a 2.1 percent population growth rate, one of the lowest in the Third World.

As in his tours to Latin America, John Paul also is likely to address the Catholic church`s role in fighting for human rights and social benefits among India`s poverty-stricken peoples. The government estimates 272 million Indians, more than a third of the population, live below the poverty line.

A growing number of young Indian priests and nuns, working with lawyers, doctors, scientists, journalists and artists of various religions, ``are playing an important role in seeking social justice now,`` said the Rev. Henry Volken, a German Jesuit sent to Rome in 1984 after 36 years in India.

``They are reacting to the fact that the `harijans,` or outcasts, and the tribal peoples are being left out,`` he said. ``They are organizing the victims of inadequate policies and unjust laws, especially in rural settings.``